


You're The Reason

by HereSay_ThereSay



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Based on a song, Cowboys & Cowgirls, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Long-Distance Friendship, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Vaguely Historical, Yeehaw Folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-14 15:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18950491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereSay_ThereSay/pseuds/HereSay_ThereSay
Summary: There's a full moon over Tulsa, I hope that it's shining on you...“What’ll it be tonight, Madej?” Teej asked.“Rum n’ coke, if you don’ mind,” Shane answered.“You heard from Ryan at all?” Teej asked. “I didn’ think the sumbitch would make it this long without showin’ back up around here.”“Ah, he’s doin’ just fine, last I heard. He was made for the big city, Teej. Ain’ a damn thing out here woulda ever made him happy,” Shane said with a roll of his eyes.





	You're The Reason

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This fic is based on the song You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma, which is something my mom and dad have been singing as a duet for as long as I can remember. It's also set in Kind Of The Sixties, in a really vague way. I hope you like it!

_ There’s a full moon over Tulsa, I hope that it’s shining on you… _

 

Shane straightened his hat before stepping into the bar. It was just loud enough to not seem lonely, but not so loud that Shane couldn’t hear himself think.

A couple of patrons were playing pool, a few more were throwing darts, some were simply sitting at the bar with a beer, their corduroy jackets slung over the backs of their chairs.

“Evenin’,” the bartender, a guy around Shane’s age that everyone just called Teej, called.

“Evenin’,” Shane replied, lowering himself onto the barstool and taking off his own denim jacket.

It was going to be cold enough for him to start breaking in the old leather beater, soon.

“What’ll it be tonight, Madej?” Teej asked.

“Rum n’ coke, if you don’ mind,” Shane answered.

“You heard from Ryan at all?” Teej asked. “I didn’ think the sumbitch would make it this long without showin’ back up around here.”

“Ah, he’s doin’ just fine, last I heard. He was made for the big city, Teej. Ain’ a damn thing out here woulda ever made him happy,” Shane said with a roll of his eyes.

***

_ Here the city lights outshine the moon, I was just now thinking of you… _

 

It was still warm out, warm enough that Ryan didn’t need a jacket when he went out, even though it was mid-October.

Shane would’ve given him hell about it.

_ Finally, someplace warm ‘nough for your delicate lily of the valley self _ .

The bar was close enough to Ryan’s little two-room flat that he didn’t even need to hail a cab, and instead he made his way down the sidewalk, the rubber soles of his All-Stars thudding against the pavement.

He still wasn’t entirely used to it, the high waisted pants and tight-fitting polos and canvas sneakers of his new home. It’d been five months, and he still sometimes worked himself into a frenzy looking for the tall hat and boots he’d put up in storage the first day he’d arrived.

The light of the bar’s neon sign mixed with all the other multicolored lights of the city. It was all so bright that Ryan couldn’t even see the stars.

“How you been, Bergara?” Steven called from behind the bar as Ryan entered the room.

“Ya know, same ol’, same ol’,” Ryan replied, shrug.

“Get any mail from your farmboy?” Steven asked with a wry grin.

“He ain’  _ my _ farmboy, Lim,” Ryan argued, feeling a blush creep up the back of his neck. “Just--just gimme a whiskey, do your damn job. Jesus Christ.”

Steven laughed, and a moment later he was sliding a glass in front of Ryan with a grin.

***

_ Losing you left a pretty good cowboy with nothing to hold onto… _

 

“Shane! There’s a letter here for ya!” Sara called from the front porch. “It’s from Ryan!”

Shane smiled as he tossed his wrench back into the toolbox and wiped the grease on his jeans.

“What’s it say?” Shane asked, taking the folded paper from Sara’s hands.

“I don’ know, I don’ read your nonsense,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Y’all’s love-fest is your own damn business.”

“It ain’ a love fest!”

“And I’m full of chickenshit. Don’ try an’ fool me, Madej. I’ve known you too damn long,” Sara said, smacking him with a towel.

Shane rolled his eyes right back as he sat on the porch swing and unfolded the letter.

 

_ Shane, _

_ First of all, I hope your damn cows trample that big old melon of yours. I ain’t some goddamn city boy, and when I get back I’m gonna hand you your ass just to prove it. _

_ You want to see a real city boy, you should meet my buddy, Steven. He tends bar out here and I’d be surprised if he’s ever even seen a horse. You should hear the shit they give me for the way I talk. I don’t know whether you’d get a kick out of it or just be pissy. Knowing you, it’d probably be both, you ridiculous bastard. _

_ You ought to see it out here. Some times when the wind blows, you can see the mountains. It’s a hell of a sight. _

_ I miss you. _

_ Give ‘em all hell for me. _

_ Yours, _

_ Ryan _

***

_ All the cowboys down on the Sunset Strip wish that they could be like you _ …

 

“You should invite him up, let him see what the world is like away from all the ten-gallon hats and rodeos,” Jen said, elbowing Ryan in the ribs.

“He’d try an’ give Clint Eastwood pointers, the damn idiot,” Ryan replied, shaking his head.

“You like him, don’t you?” Jen asked, staring at him as he passed her back the blunt.

“Well yeah, he’s my--he’s my best friend, y’know? Annoying as all get out, a damn pain in the ass, but… there ain’ anybody else I’d like to spend my time with, much as I’d like to spend it with him,” Ryan admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

Jen nodded at him, and Ryan could almost see the wheels turning in her head.

“Not like that, damn it,” he insisted. “I ain’--we ain’--it ain’ even legal, Jen. And I ain’ into him like that.”

“I think the lady doth protest too much,” Jen said sagely, the smoke from their joint coiling around her head like a halo. 

“Fuck off,” Ryan said, shoving her shoulder. She toppled over with a laugh.

“That--Shit, that reminds me, I picked this up on my way up…” Jen said, scrambling through her pockets before pulling out a yellowed envelope. “Here.”

“Speak of the devil,” Ryan said, taking the letter with a roll of his eyes and ripping it open.

 

_ Ryan, _

_ A little bitty thing like you couldn’t even reach my ass. _

_ I’m glad to hear someone’s keeping you in line if I can’t. God knows you’re a little shit as is, I don’t even want to think about what you’d be like if left unchecked. The world ain’t ready for it, that’s for damn sure. And you’re one to talk, calling me pissy like you ain’ got the shortest fuse in Cherokee County. _

_ Someday I’ll see it, I promise. Maybe this spring I’ll drive up, bring Sara, leave the cat with my parents, make a trip of it. I’m sure those mountains are something else. _

_ Miss you too, pal. _

_ Yours, _

_ Shane _

***

_ And I’ve been missing you... _

 

“Look at you, slick!” Shane yelled as Ryan walked over to his truck. “Gimme a twirl! Is that polyester?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Ryan said, wrapping an arm around Shane’s shoulder. “It’s been too damn long, man.”

“You’re tellin’ me. You sound like a Californian flower,” Shane said, smiling down at him.

“Do not!”

“Do too,  _ man _ .”

“God, I forgot what a prick you are,” Ryan said with a laugh. “Lemme help you grab your things, I’ll show you up. Where’s Sara?”

“She, ah, she couldn’t make it. She just got a job working the front desk at the bank, didn’t want to have to take off so soon,” Shane explained, grabbing his old leather bag out of the back of his truck.

“She’s a workin’ woman now,” Ryan said, and Shane smiled.

“Yeah. I actually think she’d like it out here,” Shane said, smiling up at the sun.

“It’s damn nice,” Ryan agreed. “C’mon up. I’ll warn ya now, there ain’ much room, you might not be able to fit all those damn limbs of yours inside.”

“We’ll make it fit,” Shane said before grabbing Ryan by the shoulder. “I, uh, I’ve been thinkin’, and… I really missed you, Ry. More than, uh, more than I thought I would.”

Ryan smiled up at him, swiping the old tall hat off his head and letting his fingers run through his hair before his hand came down to squeeze the taller man’s bicep. “I missed you too,” he said quietly.

***

_ You’re the reason God made Oklahoma _

_ And I’m sure missing you. _

**Author's Note:**

> tell me what you think, please!


End file.
